The day before each year is an invitation to reflect back on the previous year, and today I can say that I was a fairly crappy blogger this year. Most of the posts from this year are riddles, and even among those, not since August 6.

What can I say? I was pretty well fed up with the state of the world and depressed about any number of things. Ideally, the blog is an opportunity to channel my frustrations into creating something, but it hasn’t been that very much in 2020.

Still, there are a few posts I think are worth highlighting, but only five this year instead of ten. And if you’re reading this, thanks for coming back. I hope to do better for you in 2021.

5. Shakespeare Anagram: Julius Caesar (February 1)

When the Republican-controlled Senate decided to deny the American people an impeachment trial for our criminal president, I wrote this anagram to remind us that we had the power to remove him ourselves in November. And we did!

4. Science is Real (July 4)

One of the prevailing feelings I’ve had about the world for the past few years is helplessness. Everything’s wrong, but what can I do about it? I can vote, sure. I’ve also started writing a poem each Fourth of July, in the hopes of sharing my patriotic spirit with my fellow Americans. This year’s wasn’t my favorite of the three, but it made a point I thought was important.

3. It Is Upon Us (April 10)

It was the fourth anniversary of the death of one of my closest childhood friends, and I took the opportunity to tell a funny story involving him. He would have hated this year just like the rest of us did, but he’d have found a way to make the best of it. This I know.

2. Read Shakespeare Online! (July 17)

One of my favorite things to do is gather with groups of friends to read Shakespeare plays. That was taken from me this year, but my friends continued to meet online to continue our reading groups on Zoom. This post encouraged others to do the same, and shared the resources we use to do it (including the resource page I have on this site).

1. Macbeth 2020 (April 21)

Living in isolation, I was driven to create something, even if I had to do it “all by myself,” as the song goes. Fortunately, the monthly Shakespeare event I used to attend also moved online this year. When the Night Shift Theatre Company transformed the Drunken Shakespeare event (held in a bar) into the Sequestered Shakespeare event (held on Instagram), it gave me the opportunity to reimagine the cauldron scene from Macbeth as a Zoom call in 2020. I posted the video here as well.

Have a Happy New Year, and I’ll see you in 2021!